Magic Mornings

Hello All,

This morning, my thoughtful alarm went off at 4:40 instead of 4:30. It's always the lack of sleep that gets you during Ramadan. But, it is such a joy to wake up in the dark, knowing that all our neighbors are awake with us. I wake up first for those quiet moments to myself, when I drink water and nibble banana bread while I warm up some "breakfast"- usually dinner food. My favorite is re-heated rice and fish sauce! mmmm. What does that say about me? Then, I wake up Cheikh (and today, Karim James popped his little eyes open too, groan.) and we eat a bit and drink as much as we can. No water either, remember:) while the sun is up.

Through the open window, we hear mosques all around us calling everyone to wake up to pray. That sound was among those that I missed most when I left West Africa. There's just something ethereal about it. The rooster next door called us too. We pray in our living room, but the prayer itself is called out and we hear it through the window as well. Then, the tough part is going back to sleep for two hours before getting up to start the day. That is the deepest sleep of all during Ramadan. Then, from about noon till four pm is a fog. Imagine jetlag because that's what it feels like. Everything is slower, quieter and warmer than usual. What surprised me the first time I fasted is that it doesn't make you "hungry," just groggy. Hunger changes a personality and makes ambition or urgency less possible. Fasting is something I believe everyone should try at least once. It really gives you a sense of what hunger is like and the damage it can do to a child, a community, or even a country.

I went to the Grande Marche this morning to buy sheets and curtains. I wandered for a while, but nobody said much to me. When I found what I wanted, I hardly had to bargain for it, since the prices were reasonable. Neither the boutiquier or I felt like playing that game today. It was a 2 hr process to have everything cut and sewn, but a pleasant one. While I was there, I was thinking about how I would describe the market. It's not insane like Sandaga in Dakar or spread out like the market in Bamako. It's a labyrinth that's contained, with labeled entrances, an acutual structure and interwoven paths which will take me a while to learn to navigate. All of the markets in Niamey are much cleaner than to be expected thanks to Mercy Corps' "Cash for Work" program which employs people to clean up the markets for the improvement of community health. Even the government has started employing more city clean up crews so as not to be shown up by Mercy Corps:)

Karim was excited to find construction truck curtains on his windows when he got home from school! And Cheikh was relieved to find beautiful curtains in our room, rather than the nigerian pagne fabric I'd teased about.

Love to all. Our thoughts are with you.

Live from Niamey

Hi All,

This morning the thunder woke me up at 2:30. Wow. I can see how religion is born. To me, lying in bed, the crashing did indeed sound like Zeus hurling thunderbolts. Nothing in Oregon can compare to the fury of this downpour. Lying there in the king sized bed with my snuggly boy, under a mosquito ne,t in my water tight (mostly) home, I thought about two things. The first and most disturbing thing was the dwellings of all the "settlers" in Niamey. Unlike Kouna, these houses are not made of mud or banco, they are nomadic looking tents of bamboo mats lashed together over poles. They are quite pretty and round and they romanticize the nomadic life of Touaregs with their echos of caravans through the desert. But can they survive a real honest thunderstorm that rages on and on for hours? And even if they hold, what happens to everything on the floor? Are the beds raised up and does the whole bottom of the house turn into a muddy swamp? Because I haven't actually been invited into one of these dwellings, I can only speculate.

The second thing that filled my mind was heaven sent thanks for the rain. The farmers need the rain in the most real way. We all need it, because if the farmers fail, so does the country. That is the difference between the Sahel and the rest of the world. Like Mali, Niger has no safety net. I realized that in Kouna. When people are farming this difficult land, every good growing season produces enough, but no more than will be immediately consumed. We are always one to two yearsaway from potential famine if the rains don't come. And so, knowing the hardship they cause, everyone gives heartfelt thanks for a good rain.

I just found our friends' blog yesterday, it's livefromniamey.blogspot.com. This is BJ's dad who's writing it. I enjoyed reading his perspectives on Niamey and his comments about everything from the colors of the city to the food we eat. You may get some additional insight into our every day life by reading about theirs.

Yesterday, I realized exactly how small our international community is when I ventured out to meet our Irish neighbors. When the mom met me at the door, I realized that we have already met and she's not Irish. Small world. Karim didn't play much with her son, who was feeling a little shy, but he attracted the adoration of the 9month old baby. They were playing on the floor and I was talking to the mama when suddenly Karim yells "Mama, the baby bit my toe!" and indeed she had. Not hard, just enough to attract his attention away from the playmobile boat that had captured his imagination. K was a little disturbed, but forgave her quickly.

Today, We've spent most of the day inside, since when we did venture out, we both got about six mosquito bites each in the space of ten minutes, after I'd lathered us with bug repellent! Blood thirsty little beasts! Anyway, we'll try again later since the sky has cleared and the sun is out again. Even in this land of light, I can't seem to get enough of the sun.

Love to All.

Follow the kids . . .

Hello All,

As always, I am actively stalking potential friends. This time, I watched Karim at school to see who he plays with most. Immediately he started playing with and talking about two brothers, Ron and Ijan. After some sleuthing, I discovered that their family is Congolese and just moved here 4 months ago. Positive they needed friends too, I gave their nannie my number and sure enough, a few hours later, I had a date. Yay! We met up for drinks and kid fun at the Grand Hotel last night. It was a refreshing bit of mom-to-mom time. We've also met a 4yr old Irish boy who lives 4 doors down from us- he also has a skuut bike with no pedals! I can't wait for Karim's to get here so they can terrorize the neighborhood together. We're planning to pop over later this afternoon to try to meet the parents.

Good news! Our stuff has made it off the boat in Benin. It should be here within the next month- assuming it clears customs and the truck doesn't break down or get hijacked on the way here- oh and assuming that everyone it competent- always a risk.

Cheikh left for Agadez yesterday morning in the middle of a particularly violent thunder storm, so I was relieved when he called to tell us he'd arrived safely. We're expecting him back for lunch on Wednesday. We have a new, amazing cook who made Cheikh feel like he'd finally come home when she made one of his favorite Senegalese dishes on Friday(with actual palm oil!)

I'm doing well. Lots of running and yoga. Quite a bit of journaling and prep work for my novel, but not too much actual drafting yet. We're all gearing up for Ramadan to start around the 20th of this month. This week we bought tons of food since all the prices are expected to double this month in observation of the holy month. Does that seem charitable and communal to you? Anyway, such is life.

Cheikh is still working a ton, but we're all adjusting to it. It's nice that we're able to have lunch together every day as a family(when he's in Niamey of course:0). We've found a car we like, now we just have to figure out how to pay for it! yikes. Like I said, things are not cheap here- especially imported things like cars. Cheikh will most likely have to report the update of the final bargaining once we get to that point, since my very presence in the car lot would up the price by 20%.

I'm glad you enjoyed the giraffe photos. Unfortunately, our friend with the camera won't be back until Sept 29! Thinking of all of you- Especially of Heron on his rafting trip and Rachel as the wedding approaches. Congratulations and lots and lots of love from here.

Family Portrait

How tall are we???

Fiber optic cable or Loch Ness Monster?

Hi All,
Sorry for the long silence. No internet connection for a while. I heard that it was because a fiber optic cable broke off the coast of Benin, but that seems far fetched, since the election results came out yesterday and now it's working . . . slowly. Coincedence? It is with great sadness that I tell you that Rosella and Deb were not able to fly out yesterday to visit us due to State Department warnings of an imminent coup in Niger and strong advisory not to travel on non-urgent business. yikes. Well, no sign of that yet, but as the situation could flare up, it's probably better to wait anyway. Many neighboring countries are denouncing Niger's president and cutting relations- pretty dire for a landlocked country. So, in the calm, we are awaiting whatever happens next. We still have hopes that our shipment will arrive in due time with Karim's toys, our kitchen gadgets and our beloved wall hangings that make a house a home. And, the ultimate sign of settling in, we have started looking for a car to buy. I'm still dreaming of a Rav4, but we'll see what we find. (Leftist guilt be damned!) Funny, it's like when W won and everybody was so upset, but life just went on as usual. Our new cook/ chef de menage started this week, so this morning we traveled to the market together. To buy a mortier(susu) we pretended not to know eachother so she could get a decent price for the thing. Boy was that man mad when I paid him. He insulted us for tricking him as if he had every right to charge me double simply for being white. argh!

It is a known fact that women dress to impress other women, so with that in mind, I am preparing for a playdate with a beautiful Senegalese woman and her lively 3yr old daughter. We are meeting at a playground that Karim and I visited yesterday for the first time. New places are always good and this one is a gem. Nestled by the river is a restaurant called La Flottille, where they have a public play area with swings, a merry-go-round where the kids ride in little airplanes and cars, a play structure and rocking animals. The whole thing is not big, but big enough. We are doing well now that we've recovered from Tuesday night in the hospital with food poisoning. Note: beware of pizza at the Grand Hotel. Karim was a real trooper, and Cheikh was an angel through the whole thing. He brought us the most wonderful soup and "slept" the whole night with Karim in his tiny bed.

Anyway, love to all- time to rouse the little guy for our date!